By Charlie Pogacar
When Avery Ward started a video series for his pizza shop, he didn’t know what to expect. Would people watch it? Would it be worth the investment of time and energy?
Seventy episodes later, Ward says there’s an overwhelming answer to those questions. His vlog, “Slice of Life,” has helped the Groveport, Ohio, community learn more about the town’s third-generation pizza shop, Little Italy Ristorante. By taking viewers behind the scenes at Little Italy—and having a little fun from time to time—Ward has forged a deeper bond with his customer base.
Episodes range from humorous interactions with the local police lieutenant to detailed breakdowns of the shop’s relationships with local vendors—and why they chose that particular vendor in the first place. “We really wanted to humanize the brand,” Ward said. “We wanted to show people the grit of the restaurant industry and that there’s a lot more sweat than they would imagine that goes into their plate.”
Related: How One Operator Turned $500,000 in Annual Sales Into $5 Million at His Family’s Shop
Becoming the Pizza Shirt Guy
As “Slice of Life” gained traction, something unexpected happened: Ward became a local celebrity. It helps that, every single day, he wears one of two pizza-themed polo shirts that have helped create a character of sorts: Avery Ward, the Pizza Shirt Guy.
“I started to become noticed around town by people, even when I sometimes had no idea who they were,” he said. “Customers also come in and say, ‘I saw this one thing that you did,’ and it could have been something from a year ago.”
This recognition has done more than boost brand awareness—it’s helped forge deeper relationships. Ward sees “Slice of Life” as a powerful tool for connection, which became especially important when booming sales—hitting $5 million annually—forced his family’s longtime shop to relocate. The new space was sleek and modern, but Ward knew it would be hard for some in Groveport to let go of the memories tied to the original location. Winning their loyalty all over again required more than the good food they’d grown accustomed to.
“I’ve always said that I think memories taste better,” Ward said. “Moving into the new shop, it was a way for a new generation of customers to form their own memories. The video series was a way to say, hey, these are the people behind this shop. I had to find a way to put a face to it: It’s Avery. It’s the pizza shirt guy.”
Breaking It Into Thirds
According to Ward, each episode of “Slice of Life” is targeting a demographic that falls into one of three buckets. The first bucket is the local community. These videos highlight the events, festivals or local causes where Little Italy has a presence.
The second is a thought leadership bucket, where Ward is doing his best to connect with other pizza shop owners. These episodes educate industry peers by offering a peek into what it takes to run a $5 million-per-year shop in a small town. The third category is vendor-focused, showcasing the suppliers that keep Little Italy running.
Of course, Ward hopes people across those three groups will find something to like about every episode. It seems they have: Ward says the series now gets between 20,000 and 50,000 views per week. Sometimes, an older episode might begin to go locally viral on social media—it’s not always easy to tell which episodes will achieve the most engagement.
One standout episode took viewers to Pure Green Farms, Little Italy’s lettuce supplier. “We highlighted [an ingredient] from seed-to-harvest and packaging to distribution to our store,” Ward said. “It showed the story behind the lettuce that goes in on all our dishes,” Ward said. It’s an example of an episode that held appeal for people across the spectrum: Locals learned more about where their food comes from; other pizzeria shop operators learned what a wholesome vendor relationship looks like; and vendors stood to learn what an operator values in a vendor partner.
A more recent episode was just plain fun. With one of the shop’s two food trucks operating at a country concert in Columbus, Ohio, Ward went around quizzing country music fans on song lyrics from their favorite artists. Those who passed the test would get a voucher for a free slice from the truck. We dare you to watch this particular episode (below) without cracking a smile.
The Cinematic Edge
According to Ward, the success of the series is largely owed to Nathan Caraway, a ringer of a video producer who has helped create each episode. An old coworker of Ward’s from the duo’s time at Apple, Caraway is now the creative marketing director at Little Italy. Without Caraway, Ward said, “Slice of Life” may not have reached its full potential.
“Nathan’s just a genius,” Ward said. “He does everything: scripting, shooting, editing—the whole nine.”
The video series is part of Ward’s ongoing commitment to turning the shop, which was opened in 1979 by his grandparents, into a next-level operation. With a new approach to operations and marketing, Ward took the shop from $500,000 to over $5 million in annual sales. This year, the shop is pacing to eclipse $5.5 million in annual sales. The additional revenue has afforded Ward more budget to hire people—like Caraway—which has allowed him to work on his business rather than in it. One of the best perks? Getting to do something fun and lighthearted: shooting his video series.
Despite the high production value, Ward emphasized the content’s authenticity and consistency are what keep people coming back. “It just feels like a little hobby that we go and have fun and we showcase who we are and what we do and people love it,” Ward said.
Building a Following
“Slice of Life” is housed on YouTube, but Little Italy also posts the videos, and smaller clips from them, on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Of those channels, Facebook is by far the strongest performer. Some local-centric episodes, like the comedic skit involving a Groveport police officer, have clocked over 70,000 views.
“That episode on Facebook alone, I think got like 35,000 or 40,000 views,” Ward said.
Ward and Nathan continue to experiment with different formats—long-form, short-form, and hybrid—to find what works best for each platform. “What hits TikTok is not gonna hit on Facebook,” Ward said. “Each one is a little bit different.”
The show’s YouTube presence, while still a work in progress, remains a priority. “We want a place that people can subscribe to and they get notified when our video goes out,” Ward said.
Metrics to Watch
While views and online engagement are nice, Ward said he measures the vlog’s success by real-world recognition and conversations. “There’s a level of trust building that I think it’s creating,” he said. “They feel like they know me or the restaurant.”
In one particularly emotional moment, he and his dad watched a New Year’s recap episode together. “He was crying his eyes out,” Ward said. “And it was just cool as [heck] to see my whole life of a year’s work just flash before my eyes.”
More than anything, “Slice of Life” works because it gives people something to connect with. It’s not about selling pizza—it’s about showing the people, values and stories behind the restaurant.
“Again, I don’t think that production quality is what gets the views,” Ward said. “I think it’s just consistently telling a story that people wanna cling to and champion you on the journey.”
With that in mind, Ward believes “Slice of Life” is a model other independent operators could replicate—even if they have a tighter budget. “We pull off what we pull off with a really low budget,” he said. “But I think I’m very blessed with having somebody who has such experience and knowledge.”
In general, when it comes to social media content, Ward encourages other operators to move beyond generic food shots. It was a mistake he made early on. With help from his marketing mentor Matt Plapp of America’s Best Restaurants (a frequent contributor to PMQ Pizza), Ward began viewing his social media in a totally different light.
“Before, it was all just like ‘pizza, pizza, here’s a discount this weekend,’” Ward said. “And then I really started to share who we are, where we’ve come from.”
By putting himself in front of the camera, he’s helped make Little Italy more than just a restaurant. It’s a story people want to be part of. “Attention follows authenticity,” Ward said. “That’s what we’re chasing.”
